O THE KANSAS CHERRY. 



quently make shoots six to eight feet high the first season after the 

 stock is headed back. Grafting of the cherry may be performed the 

 same as with the apple and pear, but the work, to be successful, should 

 always be performed early in the season, before the frost is well out 

 of the ground. If omitted until the buds begin to swell strongly, the 

 chances of success are less than those of failure. 



When dwarf trees are required, the Morello seedlings are used as 

 stocks, or the Perfumed cherry {Cerasns mahaJch) is employed; but 

 as standards are almost universally preferred, these are seldom seen 

 here. Dwarfs in the nursery must be headed back the second year, 

 in order to form lateral shoots near the ground. 



Cultivation. — The cherry, as a standard tree, may be said to re- 

 quire little or no cultivation in the Middle states, further than occa- 

 sionally supi^lying old trees with a little manure, to keep up their 

 vigor, pruning out a dead or crossing branch, and washing the stem 

 with soft soap should it become hard and bark-l^ound. Pruning, the 

 cherry very little needs, and as it is always likely to produce gum 

 (and this decay), it should be avoided, except when really required. 

 It should then be done in midsummer, as that is the only season when 

 the gum is not more or less exuded. The cherry is not a very long- 

 lived tree, but in favorable soil the finest varieties generally endure 

 about thirty or forty years. In the county of Perry, Ohio, there is a 

 tree of the Black Mazzard variety which is eighty feet high, and four 

 feet one inch in diameter of main trunk, while the length of the lar- 

 gest limb or branch is forty-two feet. A large cherry tree at Walworth, 

 N. Y., is recorded as measuring fourteen feet six inches in circumfer- 

 ence, sixty feet in height, and having a spread of over four rods. It 

 has produced forty bushels of fruit in one season. Twenty feet apart 

 for the strong, and eighteen feet for the slow-growing kinds, is the 

 proper distance. 



Gathering the Fruit. — This tender and juicy fruit is best when 

 freshly gathered from the tree, and it should always be picked with 

 the stalks attached. For the dessert, the flavor of many sorts in our 

 climate is rendered more delicious by placing the fruit, for an hour or 

 two previous, in an ice-house or refrigerator, and bringing them upon 

 the table cool, with dew-drops standing upon them. For the market 

 or transportation long distances, they should be gathered only when 

 perfectly dry. 



